I don't go to bed early at night, but I wake up quite late in the morning.
When Wang Tianxiao woke up, it was still barely dawn. He thought he had gotten up quite early, but when he looked to the side, his wife was already gone.
He put on his clothes and got off the kang (a heated brick bed). As soon as he stepped out, a chill immediately forced him back inside. He put his clothes back on before coming out again.
Seeing the kitchen light on, I ran over and saw my wife wearing an apron and already washing vegetables.
On the shelf set up on the ground, there were already more than a dozen washed cabbages and some green onions. Next to it, there was a whole basin of chili peppers, some red and some green.
Li Yali hummed a cheerful tune as she busied herself under the lamplight.
She is not yet thirty years old this year, which is the golden and beautiful age of a woman. She has lost the naivety of her youth and the immaturity of her young adulthood. At this age, she exudes a very elegant and gentle feminine temperament.
It made Wang Tianxiao feel very quiet.
He had seen many women in his past life, especially after his wife passed away. Some people introduced him to potential partners, but he felt nothing when he saw them and even found them somewhat repulsive.
In his world, there are only two kinds of women.
His wife, Li Yali, and other women.
He doesn't care who it is, as long as it's not his wife, and he can't be bothered to pay attention to them.
He loved his wife's gentle and unassuming nature, which didn't burden or pressure him at all. She wasn't the most beautiful woman, but the natural beauty that emanated from her heart was something very rare to find.
If it weren't for his wife's gentle support in his past life, he probably would have collapsed at some point, given his lifestyle.
They managed to hold on until their children grew up and they even got to hold their grandchildren.
Unfortunately, perhaps it was precisely because of this that his wife prematurely exhausted her vitality, leaving this family, him, and the world she once loved so dearly.
Wang Tianxiao tiptoed in and suddenly hugged his wife from behind.
"ah!"
Li Yali was startled.
Upon seeing that it was Wang Tianxiao, he was immediately embarrassed and annoyed. "Oh dear, what are you doing? You scared me! I thought some bear had suddenly walked in."
"Hehe, I'm a bear?"
"You bet! You told me about the bear yesterday, and I dreamt about it last night. It almost scared me to death."
"It's alright. No matter how powerful a bear is, it's still just an animal. How can it be stronger than a human? Don't scare yourself. Why are you up so early? It's so cold. Why don't you sleep a little longer?"
"I couldn't sleep. I thought it was a sunny day, so I prepared the vegetables that needed to be dried early so I could take them out to drain. Otherwise, if I soaked them directly after draining, the pickled vegetables would easily rot and the kimchi would lose its flavor."
"Then let me help you?"
"Sure."
"what I do?"
"See that basket over there? Take the scallions out of it and peel them for us. Peel all the scallions in the sack first, then go get more. After you've peeled two sacks, you can start chopping them. You like pickled scallions, right? Then cut the scallions and red chilies into rings and pickle them in a small jar."
"Okay."
Wang Tianxiao went out and brought in a small stool, then sat down next to the sack of scallions and began peeling them.
Pickling vegetables is actually a skill in itself.
It all comes down to experience.
Even using the same method, different people can produce completely different flavors when pickling.
It's like going to the supermarket to buy cold dishes. They use the same seasonings and the same types of cold dishes, but in some places they taste great, while in others they either have no flavor or have a strange taste that is hard to get used to.
Wang Tianxiao has several favorite kinds of pickled vegetables that his wife makes.
Besides the scallions I just mentioned, there are also pickled spicy radish strips, salted chives, salted eggplant, and so on.
The spicy radish strips were his favorite.
It's crunchy and spicy. Add a little vinegar and eat it with hot steamed buns—it's incredibly comforting.
Spicy radish is a common pickled vegetable; not to mention other places, almost every family in Qingcheng pickles this vegetable.
But when Wang Tianxiao visited other people's homes, he never tasted anything like the cooking his wife made.
Or it's dry and tasteless, like eating firewood.
Or it's sticky and not crisp at all.
This isn't to say that I love everything about my wife, but rather that she is indeed very capable.
In his previous life, Wang Tianxiao did not do this kind of pickling, so he did not know the specific steps or secrets.
It's not that I'm unwilling to do it, it's that I genuinely don't have the time or energy.
In most cases, Wang Tianxiao would get up at four or five in the morning, then ride his bicycle to his destination. In the evening, he would return around ten or eleven o'clock, eat something quickly, wash up, and go to sleep. He didn't have much energy to do these things.
Let alone pickling vegetables and kimchi, sometimes we don't even see the children once a week.
When I left in the morning, the children were still asleep, and when I came back in the evening, they were all asleep again.
This leads to a sense of estrangement between the child and the father.
"Hey, I have something to tell you," Li Yali suddenly said.
"Um?"
“It’s magnificent…” the wife hesitated.
"What's wrong with Hongwei?"
"It's not a big deal, it's just that I've noticed that the child seems to have a particular tendency to wet his pants."
"ah?"
Wang Tianxiao was very surprised. After thinking for a moment, he said, "I don't remember this child having this problem before. Why is he suddenly wetting his pants? Is it happening very frequently?"
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